MAPLES. 265 



Acer saccharixmm. (A. dasycarpum.} Soft Maple. 

 White or Silver Maple. Silverleaf Maple. 



Leaves deeply palmately 5-lobed, silvery white and smooth 

 beneath but downy while young. Flowers greenish, apetalous, 

 on short pedicles, in axillary clusters, appearing before the 

 leaves; ovary and young fruit downy. Fruit with large 

 divergent wings, smooth at maturity though downy when 

 young, ripens in early summer about the time the leaves are 

 of full size. A large quick growing tree often 90 feet high 

 with more or less pendulous branches and light airy foliage 

 which gives it a graceful appearance. 



Distribution. It is found in the north from the Valley of 

 the St. John River in New Brunswick to southern Ontario; it 

 extends southward through the United States to western 

 Florida and west to eastern Dakota and Nebraska. It is 

 adapted to a wide variety of soils and is especially abundant 

 along rivers, often growing luxuriantly on sand bars and 

 land that is inundated by spring freshets. A very common 

 tree in southern and central Minnesota and north along the 

 Mississippi Valley. 



Propagation. By seeds which drop off in early summer 

 and where they fall on moist soil they soon grow. They are 

 very delicate, however, and cannot be kept in good condition 

 many weeks after they are ripe. If sown at once in good 

 moist soil they will often produce plants two feet or more 

 high the first season and the growth is also very rapid in 

 subsequent years. The ornamental varieties are propagated 

 by grafting or budding on the seedlings and occasionally by 

 layering. 



Properties of wood. Light, hard (though not nearly so 

 hard as Hard Maple) rather brittle and easily worked; it is 

 pale, faintly tinged with brown: the sapwood is light colored 

 and thick. Specific gravity 0.5269; weight of a cubic foot 

 32.84 pounds. 



Uses. The Soft Maple is exceedingly hardy and of very 

 rapid growth but suffers from a deficiency of moisture in the 

 soil. It makes a very good street and lawn tree on retentive 

 land and is adapted to a wide variety of soils. The limbs 

 are brittle and the crotches of the tree are weak and likely 



